High five: what's new on Mauritius

Until quite recently, it was not easy for foreigners to own property on Mauritius. The arrival of the IRS (Integrated Resort Scheme) in 2004 changed all that. Apartments at the self-styled 'World Class Sanctuary' of Anahita on the east coast are available for sale, and can be placed in a rental pool to provide income for their owners. The scheme has potential, given that a growing sector of the luxury market wants to make its own arrangements, thank you very much.

To this end, Anahita's 'residents' can buy their own food in the shops in their purpose-built 'village' and prepare their own meals in their designer kitchens, or ask their 'residence host' to do it for them. The apartments are arranged in three-floor blocks with driveways for cars to park in; they look like a five-star, tropical Brookside. However, the mise en scène is impressive, if faintly theatrical. When we visited soon after it opened, Anahita's village felt a little like a ghost town. Its cute boutiques - among them Sugar (a pastry shop), Harris Wilson (a clothes shop) and Saveur (a grocery) - had the lights on, but nobody was home. Design-wise, the residences are symphonies in teak, chrome and steel; their terraces have private pools and views across the lagoon and the Ile aux Cerfs. It is hard to convey the strangeness of the Origine restaurant's high-design dining room in what was until recently a mangrove swamp. With all the chrome and leather, textured cement and state-of-the-art lighting, you could be in Manhattan. And the food, by chef Jean-Pierre Vigato, was so exquisite it made us wonder whether Origine might be the best restaurant on the island.

Five-star hotels on Mauritius tend to stick together. The Grand Mauritian occupies a stretch of coastline at Balaclava on the north-west coast, along which luxury hotels are steadily creeping: preceded by the Oberioi and Le Méridien, it has recently been joined by the InterContinental next door.

Opened in July 2008, the Grand is part of the Starwood group's Luxury Collection. The architecture has a South Seas opulence, making use of Mauritian thatch (in this case, dried sugar-cane leaves) to cover high-ceilinged pavilions. The flavour of the place, sombre and elegant, is largely conferred by the dark-grey basalt used to face walls and columns and line pools. At night the hotel takes on a breathtaking glamour, subtle lighting bringing out the drama of the building and the beachside setting. With 193 rooms this is a big property, but the delightful service goes a long way towards creating a sense of intimacy. The rooms give a solid impression of quality. The fittings are expensive, from the 'drench' shower to the huge bed, vast flat-screen TVs and iPod dock. The spa, a franchise of Bali-based Mandara Spa, is highly recommended. The main restaurant, Seasons by Stephane, helmed by French chef Stephane Brallet, offers a menu taking in elements of Thai, Moroccan, Indian and Mauritian cuisines. Perhaps the only disappointing aspect of the hotel is its token beach, which is frankly no good for anything more than an awkward dip in waist-high water among clumps of rock.

The reputation of the Four Seasons 'chain', if that isn't too vulgar a term for this pan-national purveyor of luxury, precedes it. And the Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita doesn't disappoint. It is in a prime coastal site on the east of the island, once the sugar plantation of Deep River Beau Champ, with the famous Le Touessrok hotel as its nearest neighbour.

The resort is reached down a long drive through tropical gardens flanked by an Ernie Els-designed golf course. The sprawling nature of the property, with 123 'villas' set among islands and inlets, makes for a fine sense of privacy but a muted, suburban atmosphere. The beaches are also no great shakes, being artificial coral strands bordering what was once a mangrove swamp. Where the Four Seasons really wins out is on its design values, which are top-notch. The public areas are composed of open-sided pavilions on podiums of slate with thatched roofs, modern sculptures, walls of water and cool furniture. By night, the architecture is given an added 'wow' factor with lighting design that fairly takes your breath away. The villa interiors are an exercise in tropical modernism, with masses of chrome and glass, furniture in noble wood and natural fibres, and fabulous installations such as the outdoor shower gushing from a stone channel high on the garden wall. There's plenty to do, what with big-game fishing and water sports, an excellent spa and a Young Adults Centre with computers and a DJ booth. The resort is close to Ile aux Cerfs, a natural reserve with (real) white-sand beaches where you can take a picnic from the hotel. Alternatively, simply lounge on a chaise longue under a palm tree and let the resort's waves of service wash over you.

The private-villa option is designed for travellers who are tired of being fussed over at grand hotels but still want first-class amenities and someone to do the dishes. The Oasis complex, on the inland side of bustling Grand Baie, consists of 14 new, self-contained villas, each with its own pool, deck and walled garden. Balinese furniture, thatched roofs and a raised, Indonesian-style pavilion by the pool lend a South-East Asian look. The ambience is peaceful, except for the minor road behind the perimeter wall. Guests can be entirely independent if they wish, nipping out to local shops and markets for ingredients which they can then prepare in the villa's Elba kitchen or, indeed, on the Weber barbecue. Alternatively, the management can lay on a range of services, from spa treatments to private catering. In short, if you like your luxury a little more hands-on, this might be for you.

Some hotels have spas tacked on almost as an afterthought. Shanti Anānda Maurice, sister establishment of Anānda in the Himalayas, is the other way round: a spa that is also a luxury hotel. A no-nonsense sanatorium air prevails despite the trappings of five-star comfort. Indeed, Shanti Anānda has taken the spa/resort concept about as far as it can without morphing into a fully-fledged spiritual retreat.

Guests are offered white kurta pyjamas in which to pad around the hotel. The spa is based on Ayurvedic principles and, according to its director Dr Pramod Mane, is less about pampering the body than reaching into the mind and spirit of its patients - sorry, guest. That said, I found the four-handed massage entirely pleasurable. Food at the two restaurants chimes with the Ayurvedic themes, with menus corresponding to the physical type to which you belong (and of which you will have been informed by Dr Mane). There is a pillow menu (I chose 'spelt chaff') and even a bath menu, from which you might choose the 'beautifying and nourishing milk and saffron bath' traditionally enjoyed by Indian brides, or the 'signature bath' of rose, vetiver and sandalwood, 'calming and centering the mind'. The 61 suites and villas are set back from a coral-sand beach, cradled by the gorgeous landscape of the quieter south coast. They are large and comfortable, and if the interiors are not exactly Architectural Digest quality, only churls and design freaks would wind a fault with the generous use of wood, marble and natural fabrics. In fact, there's a quiet elegance about them that I found relaxing and refreshing.